You killed her cat, you moron.
“I’d be happy to,” he said instead. After all, he couldn’t exactly tell her that he’d been the creep who’d left it on the side of the road.
She sniffed. “Frank will probably tow it home formefor free.”
There, finally something he’d expect from a small town girl—she probably knew everyone in town.
She cracked open the glove box and pulled out a tissue. “I was trying to jostle her, you know? In case…in case there was a chance. I mean, Doc Jensen…he’s the vet. He’s amazing, but …”
She’d been trying to save her obviously dead cat? The guilt in his gut was growing heavier by the second. Burke’s brow furrowed as he noticed the woman was shuffling in the seat, tucking her arms under the box and…oh,scooting off the seat to exit the truck.
“Mind grabbing my groceries?” she asked as her shoes—a pair of rather small-looking hiking boots, hit the ground.
“Um, no. Not at all.” The tangy scent of strawberry wafted through the air as she brushed past him. The same scent was even stronger within the cab, he realized as he snatched two reusable grocery sacks off the seat. He took the keys from the ignition next and, just as he moved to pull back and close the door, spotted a purse on the floor of the truck. At least, he figured it was a purse.
“Do you want me to grab your bag too?” Couldn’t very well leave it sitting in plain view.
“Yes, please.”
Burke stretched an arm out and hooked his fingers around the twill strap. This was definitely not like the fancy bags he was used to seeing in New York. Or LA for that matter. This chick might not be what he imagined a country girl would be like, but between the truck, the boots, and her bag she was definitely different from the women he knew.
She was interesting. And trusting too, allowing a stranger to grab her purse, not to mention accepting a ride from him.
Burke’s protective nature sparked up as he considered what this scenario might look like if he were a different sort of man. One who took advantage of or even harmed women. The very idea caused an icy streak to dart through his chest. He bumped the old fashioned lock with his fist, slammed the door closed, then spun back to see that the blonde was…gone.
He looked sharply over his shoulder but still came up empty. “Hello?” he blurted, feeling startled now.
“Back here.” The sound of her distant voice came from further behind him—all the way back to his BMW. There she stood next to the passenger side, cradling the box with one arm while reaching for the handle. Burke watched as she pried open the door, pushed it open with her hip, and proceeded to climb in.
“Huh. Okay…”
It was another display of how comfortable she felt with him—a perfect stranger blowing through town. As much as it unnerved him, and itdidunnerve him, a small part of him was charmed by it too. She was unlike anyone he’d met.
With her groceries tucked into one fist, the purse strap caught in the other, Burke made his way toward his car, the pretty stranger and her dead-because-of-him cat in the box. Perhaps this, like the weird game show he’d dreamed about, wasn’t reality at all. If that were the case, he would be disappointed to wake up; Burke wanted to see where this would lead.
He fought the urge to peer at the groceries tucked into the bags as he walked; he was hungry for added layers to the enigma before him. He spotted an avocado through the sack as he lowered it behind the driver’s seat, but that was all he could identify with the obscured view.
Soon, Burke was climbing in behind the wheel, that strawberry scent hitting him full force as he shut the door.
The distant beat of a rap song kicked on as he started the car. He was quick to reach up and turn it down.
“You can turn it back up if you want,” she said. “I like that song.”
She did?“You do?”
Her face scrunched into one of thoseduhexpressions. “Who doesn’t?”
An odd dose of heat stirred in his belly. Who was this chick?
Burke cranked it back up, lowered his sunglasses, and squared a look at the pretty stranger in his car.
“Where to?”
Chapter 4
Holy holy…
Justine stared into the hypnotizing eyes of the man at her side. With his sunglasses lowered just so, those blue pools of wonder aimed right on her, she momentarily lost her breath. She’d encountered plenty of pretty rich boys in nice cars and tailored suits. Enough that they’d all started to look the same.
